The New Year’s Power is in the Endings

Many will soon join the frenzy of New Year’s resolutions and new beginnings, and there is good in that; however, the real power of a new year is in the endings.

While a new year brings new opportunities and challenges, it’s the endings we acknowledge that allow us to begin again. Transition experts tell us that there can be no new beginning without an ending. New relationships often begin because others have ended. New jobs occur because some were lost, or left. New opportunities happen because previous ones played out.

I have never been one to focus on the resolution phenomenon, and research tells us they often don’t pan out. Oscar Wilde put it this way: “Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.” Whether or not you like to make them, realize there is often more power in your endings. You might not be able to make a new start, but maybe you can make a new ending, which usually leads to a new beginning.

The Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, said: “New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.” The truth is that every ending can be a new beginning–if we empower it to be.

Perhaps it is enough this year to embrace Arthur Ashe’s approach: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

Turning the page can be a powerful feeling. At this new place, let’s take stock of what has ended, acknowledge the endings, and have the emotional power to begin again…in all kinds of ways.